Best cookbooks of 2009, five tips for dining with kids, Paul Sorvino gets into the tomato sauce racket

• Lucy Waverman’s list of the top cookbooks of 2009 has (like the Junos) both Canadian and international winners. Canadian authors Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann score for their locavore tome Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes From an Organic Farm, though Waverman chastises them for not featuring any Canadian chefs. Prince Edward Islander Michael Smith gets a nod for The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today’s Kitchen. We’re intrigued, considering that Smith is incessantly advocating cooking without a recipe on his Food Network show. Internationally, chef David Chang of Momofuku (the name of his restaurants and book) gets a nod, as does Thomas Keller. [Globe and Mail]

• In response to his “Five Tips for Dining out With Kids,” Bon Appetit’s Foodist, Andrew Knowlton, was bombarded with more reader feedback than he’s ever received. His favourite reader response came via snail mail: “Children under eight years of age do not belong in restaurants, except for diners, fast food joints and Chuck E. Cheeses. End of discussion.” [Bon Appetit]

• The scene in Goodfellas in which an incarcerated Paul Sorvino slices garlic with a razor blade to make tomato sauce has come to life (minus the prison). The actor is taking a cue from Paul Newman, selling his own line of pasta sauces. The Guardian wonders who else could lend their name to food products: Juliette Binoche selling high-end chocolates? Meg Ryan opening a deli (we’ll have what she’s having)? Anthony Hopkins starting a line of fava beans or chianti? [The Guardian]

• The elimination of carry-on baggage on U.S.-bound flights is having a lousy effect on chefs, reports the Wall Street Journal. Food makers—who previously relied on such methods as hiding pork shoulder in stainless steel water bottles and packing sausage in shoes—are now under greater scrutiny at the airport, meaning the illegal smuggling of exotic meats has come to an abrupt end. We can live without our Slanket—just let us keep our European charcuterie. [Wall Street Journal]

• The Telegraph presents a mouth-watering slide show of expat Britons’ favourite foods, the result of an HSBC survey of its U.K. employees who live abroad. Canada’s food ranks at number three, after France and Japan. Our national pride can swell over British Columbia’s salmon, Newfoundland’s cod cakes and Quebec’s tourtières. Though awash in great food, Ontario gets no mention. [Telegraph]